Cole 


Immigrant  races  in  Massachusetts 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


'A  'N  ' 


BJ<?l(\&f-\ 


IMMIGRANT    RACES 

IN 

MASSACHUSETTS 


THE   GREEKS 


WRITTEN  FOR 

THE    MASSACHUSETTS    BUREAU    OF   IMMIGRATION 

BY 

WILLIAM  I.  COLE,  PROFESSOR  OF  APPLIED  SOCIOLOGY, 
WHEATON  COLLEGE 


65283 


.SOUTHERN  BRANCA 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA, 

i-lBRARY, 

'-OS  ANGELES.  CALIF. 


IMMIGRANT 
RACES  IN  MASSACHUSETTS 


THE  GREEKS 


Written  for  the  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Immigration,  by   William 
I.  Cole,  Professor  of  Applied  Sociology,  Wheaton  College. 


Of  the  fifty  or  more  races  represented  in  the  immigrant  popula- 
tion of  the  United  States,  the  Greeks  make  the  strongest  appeal 
to  our  imagination.  Try  as  we  will,  we  cannot  help  associating 
them  with  the  great  history,  although  now  so  remote,  of  the  coun- 
try* from  which  most  of  them  have  come.  We  not  only  connect 
them  with  that  history  in  a  general  way,  but  we  link  them  up  in 
our  minds  with  its  great  outstanding  figures  —  with  Socrates,  Plato, 
and  Aristotle,  with  Pericles,  with  Demosthenes,  with  Herodotus 
and  Thucydides,  with  Praxiteles  and  Phidias,  with  Aeschylus, 
Euripides,  and  Sophocles,  with  Homer  —  where  shall  the  list  end? 
Whether  they  can  rightfully  claim  such  ancestry,  we  do  not  stop 
to  consider.  They  bear  the  name  of  Greek  and  that  fact  alone 
appeals  to  us  and  quickens  our  imagination. 

We  see  even  the  humblest  bearer  of  the  name  Greek  against 
a  background  recalling  many  of  the  noblest  achievements  in  human 
history.  The  Greek  bootblack  who  shines  our  shoes  suggests  the 
place  where 

"The  mountains  look  on  Marathon 
And  Marathon  looks  on  the  sea," 

although  he  may  have  come  from  some  remote  village  of  Laconia; 
or  the  fruit  vendor  who  sells  us  bananas  from  his  push  cart  calls 
up  a  picture  of  "hundred-gated  Thebes",  a  city  of  which  more  than 
likely  he  had  never  heard.  Behind  the  quarter  given  over  to  the 
Greeks  in  any  of  our  cities,  however  dilapidated,  over-crowded, 
and  even  noisome  such  a  quarter  may  be  rises,  in  our  mind's  eye, 
a  vision  of  the  Acropolis. 

Number. 

How  many  Greeks  are  there  in  America? 

The  census  of  the  population  of  the  United  States  taken  in  1910 
gives  the  number  of  inhabitants  born  in  Greece  or  born  here  of  parents 


one  or  both  of  whom  were  born  in  Greece  as  109,665.  These  figures, 
however,  assuming  that  they  are  substantially  correct,  represent  only 
a  part  of  the  Greek  population  of  this  country.  They  do  not  in- 
clude, of  course,  the  Greeks  born  in  Macedonia,  Asia  Minor  and 
other  parts  of  "unredeemed  Greece",  nor  their  children  born  here. 
These  constitute  no  small  proportion  of  the  total  number  of  Greeks 
in  this  country,  possibly  two-fifths  of  the  whole.  Their  actual 
number,  however,  there  is  no  way  of  determining,  since  the  classi- 
fication of  the  census  is  solely  by  country  of  birth.  Therefore,  the 
exact  size  of  the  Greek  population  in  the  United  States  must  be 
more  or  less  conjectural.  The  best  informed  of  the  Greeks  them- 
selves put  the  total  number  of  Greeks  here  at  350,000,  an  estimate 
which  is  perhaps  not  far  from  correct.  At  least  it  is,  undoubtedly, 
as  trustworthy  as  any  that  could  be  made. 

Sources  and  Motives  of  the  Immigration. 

Tripolis  and  Sparta,  both  cities,  or  rather  districts,  in  the  in- 
terior of  the  Peloponnesus,  may  properly  be  regarded  as  the  originat- 
ing points  of  the  Greek  influx  into  this  country.  Tripolis,  the  city, 
and  the  villages  which  are  grouped  around  it  are  situated  on  a 
broad  and  fertile  table-land  surrounded  by  rocky  and  barren  moun- 
tains, the  egress  from  which  is  through  a  few  narrow  passes.  Sparta, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  in  a  valley,  and  although  also  surrounded  by 
mountains  its  access  to  the  sea  is  easier  than  that  of  Tripolis. 

From  these  two  centers  the  "fever  of  emigration"  has  spread 
not  only  to  all  parts  of  the  Peloponnesus  but  to  Attica,  Thessaly 
and  Euboea,  to  Macedonia,  Asia  Minor,  and  "the  Islands".  In 
fact,  no  part  of  "redeemed"  or  "unredeemed"  Greece  has  been 
altogether  unaffected  by  it.  However,  the  largest  contingents  are 
still  coming  from  the  regions  of  Tripolis  and  Sparta.  With  the 
beginning  of  the  recent  war,  as  was  inevitable,  Greek  immigration, 
like  most  other  immigrations,  rapidly  decreased,  and  after  awhile 
practically  ceased  altogether. 

The  relatively  large  Greek  immigration  —  Greece  which  furnishes 
no  less  than  three-fifths  of  the  total  has  a  population  about  the 
size  of  that  of  New  Jersey  —  is  due  almost  wholly  to  wide-spread 
and  extreme  poverty  at  home;  and  its  motive  is  predomincntly, 
if  not  wholly,  the  desire  to  get  money.  Religious  persecution  cannot 
fa  Mud  to  be  even  a  contributory  cause;  for  there  is  no  religious 


persecution  of  the  Greeks  in  Greece  or  in  the  Turkish  Empire.  In 
fact,  practically  every  Greek  is  a  loyal  adherent  of  the  Greek 
Orthodox  Church,  which  is  to  him  a  symbol  of  his  nationality  as  well 
as  of  his  religion,  and  wherever  his  lot  is  cast  he  enjoys  the  free  exer- 
cise of  his  form  of  faith.  Neither  can  political  oppression  nor  com- 
pulsory military  service  be  included  among  the  contributory  causes  of 
Greek  immigration,  at  least  of  that  major  part  of  it  which  comes  from 
Greece,  where  the  government  is  most  democratic  and  compulsory 
military  service  is  slight.  America  as  seen  by  the  Greek,  whether  from 
"redeemed" or  "unredeemed"  Greece,  is  first  of  all  the  land  in  which 
to  make  money.  Asked  as  to  his  reason  for  leaving  home,  the  Greek 
immigrant  will  say  almost  invariably,  in  substance,  "It  is  hard  to 
make  a  living  there.  America  is  rich.  I  can  make  more  money  here. 
It  is  the  money."  That  word  "money"  is  the  keynote  of  Greek 
immigration. 

What  part  of  this  immigration  is  in  Massachusetts,  and  how  is  it 
distributed? 

Of  the  350,000  Greeks,  more  or  less,  in  this  country,  possibly 
45,000  or  50,000  are  in  Massachusetts.  If  this  estimate  is  approxi- 
mately correct,  then  the  Greek  population  of  the  State  is  not  far 
from  one-seventh  of  that  of  the  entire  country.  It  has  been  esti- 
mated to  be  also  somewhere  around  two-thirds  of  that  in  all  New 
England.  The  largest  number  in  any  one  city  or  town  in  the  State 
is  in  Lowell,  which  has  an  estimated  Greek  population  somewhat  in 
excess  of  12,000;  and  the  next  largest  number  is  in  Boston,  where 
there  are  probably  between  3,500  and  4,000.  Lynn  has  approxi- 
mately 3,000;  Worcester  about  the  same  number;  Springfield  from 
1,000  to  1,500,  and  Haverhill  not  far  from  1,000.  There  are  smaller 
numbers  in  Peabody  and  New  Bedford,  and  smaller  still  in  Fitch- 
burg,  Holyoke,  Chicopee,  Somerville,  and  Cambridge,  and  twenty 
or  more  other  places.  Thus  the  45,000  or  50,000  in  the  State  are 
not  gathered  together  in  a  few  centers  or  confined  to  any  one  sec- 
tion, but  are  widely  distributed. 

The  Greek  colony  in  Lowell  is  not  only  the  largest  aggregation  of 
Greeks  in  Massachusetts  but  one  of  the  largest  in  the  United  States. 
In  fact,  it  is  third  in  point  of  size,  the  first  being  that  in  New  York, 
numbering  possibly  30,000,  and  the  second  that  in  Chicago,  smaller 
than  the  colony  in  New  York  by  perhaps  5,000. 

Like  most  Greek  colonies  of  three  or  four  hundred  or  more,  this 
colony  is  organized  as  a  "community",  with  president,  secretary, 


and  other  officers,  and  various  committees.  Although  its  primary 
purpose  is  to  maintain  a  Greek  Orthodox  Church  and  a  school  for 
religious  instruction,  the  "community"  serves  also  various  other 
social  ends.  Seventeen  of  the  Greek  colonies  in  Massachusetts  have 
the  community  form  of  organization.  They  include,  besides  the 
colony  in  Lowell,  the  colonies  in  Boston,  Holyoke,  Lawrence, 
Haverhill,  Worcester,  Salem,  Lynn,  Clinton,  Fitchburg,  and  else- 
where. 

Racial  Traits. 

Whatever  may  be  true  of  their  physical  descent  from  the  Greeks 
of  the  Ancient  World,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  spiritually,  as 
Professor  H.  P.  Fairchild  points  out,  "the  modern  Greeks  are  the 
direct  inheritors  of  the  ancients".  "A  familiarity  with  the  modern 
people",  he  declares,  "brings  countless  illustrations  of  the  similarity 
of  thought  and  character  between  the  old  and  the  new."  In  the 
Greeks  who  seek  our  shores  and  those  of  whom  Homer  sang  or  whom 
Aristophanes  caricatured,  there  are  the  same  alertness  of  mind,  in- 
ventiveness, and  plausibility,  the  same  liveliness  of  disposition, 
the  same  courtesy  and  hospitality  to  strangers,  the  same  capacity 
for  self-sacrifice,  the  same  love  of  adventure  and  readiness  to  take 
a  chance,  the  same  delight  in  haggling  over  a  bargain,  and  the 
same  proneness  to  disputation,  often  running  into  dissension. 

Patriotism,  which  has  always  been  a  marked  trait  of  the  Greek 
character  is  no  less  apparent  among  the  modern  bearers  of  the 
name  Greek  than  among  those  who  repulsed  the  Persians,  although 
necessarily  showing  itself  in  new  guises.  Nowhere  is  it  seen  to 
better  advantage  than  in  their  enthusiasm  for  "the  Great  Idea"  — 
the  liberation  of  "unredeemed  Greece"  and  the  revival  throughout 
the  East  of  a  Greek  culture  that  shall  rival  that  of  ancient  Greece. 
For  this  object,  the  Greeks  in  all  countries  join  hands,  freely 
devoting  to  its  realization  their  time,  money,  and  abilities. 
"The  large  fortunes  which  they  amass  abroad,"  says  Mr.  James  D. 
Bourchier,  "are  often  bequeathed  for  the  foundation  of  various  in- 
stitutions in  Greece  and  Turkey,  for  the  increase  of  the  national  fleet 
and  army,  or  for  the  spread  of  Hellenic  influence  in  the  Levant." 

The  National-Pan-Epirotic  Union  of  America,  one  of  the  largest 
societies  of  Greeks  in  this  country,  includes  among  its  objects  "To 
stimulate  a  greater  study  everywhere  in  the  question  of  Northern 
Epirus  .  .  .  and  to  bring  about  the  union  of  Northern  Epirus  with 
its  mother  country  Greece  by  all  lawful  means." 


During  the  Balkan  War,  30,000  Greeks  in  the  United  States,  so 
it  is  claimed,  or  about  ten  per  cent  of  the  entire  number  here,  went 
back  to  fight  in  the  armies  of  Greece.  When  the  recent  war  broke 
out  there  was  not,  it  is  true,  the  same  rush  to  the  aid  of  Greece; 
but  there  was  not  the  same  call.  After  the  entry  of  the  United 
States  into  the  war,  however,  thousands  of  them  again  took  arms, 
but  this  time,  by  advice  of  Venizelos,  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes; 
for  the  cause  of  the  Allies  was  the  cause  of  Greece. 

The  same  patriotism  appears  in  the  pride  which  the  Greeks  feel 
in  all  the  glorious  achievements  in  philosophy,  art,  literature,  and 
valor  with  which  the  name  of  Greek  is  forever  associated  in  men's 
minds;  and  even  in  the  country  itself  of  Greece,  with  its  diversified 
scenery  of  mountains,  valleys,  and  sea.  The  Greek  bootblack  pins 
a  picture  of  the  Acropolis  on  the  walls  of  his  "shoe-shine  parlor"; 
and  the  Greek  vendor  of  fruit,  in  the  intervals  between  waiting  on 
customers,  peruses  the  pages  of  his  Homer.  Tell  a  Greek  that 
you  have  been  in  Greece  and  almost  invariably  he  eagerly  inquires, 
"Did  you  go  to  Athens?  Isn't  it  a  beautiful  city?" 

Occupations. 

Although  many  thousands  of  the  Greeks  in  America  are  em- 
ployed as  mill  and  factory  hands,  and  many  more  thousands  in 
railroad  construction,  in  digging  sewers,  and  as  farm  laborers,  there 
is  a  strong  tendency  among  the  Greeks  here,  as  Professor  Ross  says, 
"to  take  to  certain  lines  of  business,  such  as  candy  kitchens  and 
confectionery  stores,  ice-cream  parlors,  fruit  carts,  stands  and  stores, 
florist  shops  and  boot-blacking  establishments." 

"This  is  due  to  the  fact,"  Professor  Ross  continues,  "that  this 
catering  to  the  minor  wants  of  the  public  admits  of  being  started 
on  the  curb  with  little  capital  and  no  experience.  Once  his  foot  on 
the  first  rung,  the  saving  and  commercial-minded  Greek  climbs. 
From  curb  to  stand,  from  stand  to  store,  from  little  store  to  big 
store,  to  the  chain  of  stores,  to  branch  stores  in  other  cities  —  such 
are  the  stages  in  his  upward  path." 

As  a  people,  the  Greeks  possess  marked  commercial  enterprise 
and  shrewd  business  ability.  They  are  self-reliant,  seek  no  special 
favor,  and  with  remarkably  few  exceptions  are  self-supporting. 
When  any  one  of  them  does  fall  into  need,  which  is  rarely  the  case, 
a  native  pride  keeps  him  from  applying  for  public  relief;  and  as  a 


rule  he  is  looked  after  l>y  friends  among  his  own  people.      In  the 
charitable  work  of  the  country,  the  Greeks  are  a  negligible  factor. 

Naturalization. 

Practically  every  Greek  in  the  United  States  expects  to  return 
home  sometime.  Statistics  of  the  number  actually  going  back  are 
not  available,  but  probably  they  would  comprise  no  very  different 
ratio  to  the  number  arriving  than  in  the  case  of  other  races  from 
Southern  Europe. 

Of  those  who  remain  here  permanently,  no  very  large  proportion 
become  naturalized  citizens.  One-fifth  is  as  large  an  estimate  as 
has  been  made  and  that  is  probably  too  large.  The  Greeks  them- 
selves try  to  encourage  citizenship  among  their  fellow  country- 
men. One  of  the  objects  of  the  Pan-Hellenic  Union  in  America  is, 
as  stated  in  its  constitution,  "To  instil  veneration  and  affection  for 
the  laws  and  institutions  of  their  adopted  country,  to  cultivate 
friendly  relations  between  Greeks  and  American  citizens,  and  to 
assist  the  former  in  obtaining  American  citizenship."  As  to  the 
results,  there  are  not  even  safe  estimates. 

Summary. 

Of  the  350,000  Greeks  in  the  United  States  about  three-fifths  are 
from  Greece  itself,  the  remaining  two-fifths  coming  from  various 
parts  of  the  Turkish  Empire.  As  a  part  of  the  Greek  race  they  are 
inheritors  of  a  great  tradition  of  which  they  are  extremely  proud, 
and  they  reach  back  over  a  period  of  two  or  three  thousand  years 
and  join  hands  with  the  ancient  Greeks  in  the  common  possession 
of  certain  mental  and  moral  characteristics  whatever  may  be  their 
kinship  with  them  in  blood.  They  are  quick-witted,  versatile,  and 
amiable,  united  in  devotion  to  a  great  ideal,  capable  of  self-sacri- 
fice, loyal  to  their  church,  contentious,  keen  in  business,  and 
self-supporting.  Through  home  attachments  and  love  of  country,  a 
considerable  proportion  of  them  go  back  after  a  longer  or  shorter 
stay  here;  but  a  good  number  remain  permanently  in  this  country, 
many  of  them  becoming  naturalized  citizens  and  making  sub- 
stantial contributions  to  the  national  life. 

Thus  the  appeal  which  they  make  to  our  imagination  finds  no 
small  justification  in  a  closer  scrutiny  and  a  more  intimate  ac- 
quaintance, rr  9  o  o 

SOUTHERN  BRANCH, 

DIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,- 

LIBRARY, 

1  OS  ANOELFS.  CALIF. 


'ft 


•UN 


M 


Form  I 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 
405  Hilgard  Avenue,  Los  Angeles,  CA  90024-1388 
Return  this  material  to  the  library 
from  which  It  wi 


1996 

" 

MAY  3 119* 


\ VJ 

\^,.: 


>Se 


A    001337663    7 


j 


•BIUIC 


